South China Sea: how a Spratlys radar system could give the PLA an information edge
- Beijing’s crisis management plans to deal with rising US-China tensions include its artificial structures in the disputed area
- Communications network aims for information superiority in the region but remote location makes them vulnerable
A report in Chinese military magazine Naval and Merchant Ships, said the US had tried to create a “grey zone” by forming a mini “Nato” in the Pacific to counter China, in a C-shaped arc linking India, Singapore, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea.
“Beijing should take countermeasures to cope with the US ‘grey zone tactics’ and let the US realise China is neither a passive receiver nor regional guest in Washington’s Indo-Pacific strategy, but a key player and master in the region,” according to the analysis in the December edition of the magazine, run by the Chinese navy’s main contractor China State Shipbuilding Corporation.
The article said superiority in battlefield information – provided by the artificial islands’ uninterrupted communications network connecting the Beijing military command with frontline outposts – could be the most efficient way to beat the US in a conflict in the disputed waterway.
China built the seven permanent islands between 2013 and 2017 and claims they are home to naval garrisons, coastguard personnel, maritime inspectors, meteorological observation stations and other scientific research centres, as well as rest stops for Chinese fishermen.